All Things Expounded » Books

Suppose I Buy 12 Books: A Comparison of Book Sellers

admin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 13:05:15 +0000

Suppose I were to buy 12 books, coming mainly from a reformed/evangelical perspective, what online book seller should I use? Although I am Canadian, to make the comparisons fair for the American dollar only merchants, I will pretend I am American and use Amazon.com instead of Amazon.ca.

I tried to select a wide range of reformed/evangelical-oriented books. The 12 representative books are:

Apologetics to the Glory of God: An Introduction by John Frame
Acts of the Apostles (Geneva Series of Commentaries) by J. Alexander
Easy Chairs, Hard Words: Conversations on the Liberty of God by Douglas Wilson
Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions
The Christ of the Covenants by O. Palmer Robertson
12 Challenges Churches Face by Mark Dever
The Humanness of John Calvin by Richard Stauffer
The Justification of God by John Piper
Dining with the Devil: The Megachurch Movement Flirts with Modernity by O.S. Guinness
A Christian Manifesto by Francis Schaeffer
A Lifting Up For The Downcast by William Bridge
When Sinners Say I Do by Dave Harvey

And the sellers I’m comparing are: Amazon, Monergism Books, Solid Ground Books, Christian Books, Westminister Theological Seminary Bookstore, and Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service.

Keep in mind I’m not comparing customer service or shipping, this comparison focuses exclusively on price and availability. Obviously whether one can get free shipping, timely shipping, and attentive customer service will impact your experience just as much, if not more, than price and availability will. In my experiences, Amazon and Monergism Books are generally very good with shipping and customer service, but I can’t vouch for the others.

In terms of availability, Amazon and Christian Books were the best. They had all the books. Monergism Books, Westminister Theological Seminary Bookstore, and Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service were not bad with 9/12 books. Solid Ground Books was the worst with only 3/12 of the books.

We must of course make allowance for Solid Ground Books, since they tend to focus in their selection more than the other sites (another story for another time: I was not thrilled with their service the last time I tried to order).

In terms of pricing, Monergism Books was the best–featuring the lowest price on 6 of the books! Westminister Theological Seminary Bookstore, Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, and Christian Books were pretty good with 2-3 books being the lowest price. Amazon (surprisingly) and Solid Ground Books were the worst, never carrying the lowest price on any books.

So overall, I must give kudos to Monergism Books for showing the best in this comparison. They offered the best prices and, while not dominating our evaluation of availability, they did pretty well in that category too.

Booklog (Apr. 29th – Jul. 19th)

admin — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 01:39:15 +0000

The Defendant by G.K. Chesterton: Witty and jovial, really fun.
1969: The Year Everything Changed by Rob Kirkpatrick: Disappointing. The flailing, frantic collection of anecdotes (with precious little meaningful analysis) gets frustrating after 20-30 pages.
Judas and the Gospel of Jesus: Have We Missed the Truth about Christianity? by N.T. Wright: Helpful, witty.
JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford: Handy.
Realty Check: Real Estate Secrets for First-Time Canadian Home Buyers by Sandra Rinomato: Not very good, though there were some useful aspects.
Not George Washington by P.G. Wodehouse: Never really “got” this one
Hedgemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance by Noam Chomsky: Conservatives and libertarians shouldn’t shrink away from reading this challenging book (there are problems in Noam’s presuppositions, biases, and conclusions–but his analysis of what is going on is actually quite helpful if you take some of it with a grain of salt).
The Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel The Main Thing by C.J. Mahaney: Excellent, but too short!

Booklog (Mar. 25th – Apr. 29th)

admin — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 00:34:40 +0000

Five Cities that Ruled the World: How Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, London, and New York Shaped Global History by Douglas Wilson: Excellent
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro: A well-crafted thematic tale, certainly worth reading
Hickory Wind: The Life and Times of Gram Parsons by Be Fong-Torres: A snappy, interesting account of the life of a talented but short-lived musician
Basic Moral Philosophy: Robert Holmes: Ugh–too textbookish.
Fallen Angels by Harold Bloom: Some really perceptive and fascinating literary observations, but often out of touch and gnosticy
Essays on Political Economy by Frederic Bastiat: I wish more politicians, economists, and pundits would read this!
Idle Ideals in 1905 by Jerome Jerome: Has its moments
The Pundit’s Folly by Sinclair Ferguson: A great look at Ecclesiastes and a solid, winsome presentation of the gospel.

Booklog (Feb. 27th – Mar.24)

admin — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:44:34 +0000

Sanctuary by Edith Wharton: An OK drama
Richard Sibbes by Mark Dever: Shows Dever as historian at his best, a great portrait of Sibbes (this is Dever’s thesis)
Ivan Turgenev by Charles Moser: A fascinating essay on Turgenev.
Many verses!: The importance of reading the Scriptures in Reformed worship by Ernest Springer: Quite polemical, not very winsome, and takes some odd positions. But it has some great points about reading in worship
The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man by Brett McKay: A fine work towards restoring vintage manhood, though it probably glosses over a few important things while dwelling on less important matters

The Intense Gloom of Russian Literature

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:21:51 +0000

“Finally, in reading the works of Tolstoi, Turgenev, Dostoevski, Gorki, Chehkov, Andreev, and others, what is the general impression produced on the mind of a foreigner? It is one of intense gloom. Of all the dark books in fiction, no works sound such depths of suffering and despair as are fathomed by Russians.”

from Essays on Russian Novelists by William Lyon Phelps, p.78

Booklog (Feb. 4rd – Feb.26)

admin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:58:58 +0000

The Foolish Dictionary by Gideon Wurdz: Hillarious, although a tad corny at times!
The Diary of a Superfluous Man by Ivan Turgenev: Pretty good literature conveying deep themes! Well worth a read.
Moonraker by Ian Fleming: Action packed although sort of predictable (and I still don’t know whether to laugh or cry when I read a phrase like “silence you can feel”).
Spinoza in 90 Minutes by Paul Strathern: Wanted to see what Jeeves likes about this bloke!
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabovok: Very postmodern. Fascinating to some degree, but also complex and obtuse.
The Heart of a Goof by P.G. Wodehouse: Good!
P. G. Wodehouse by R. B. D. French: An interesting topical study on things Wodehousian.

Not One Of Those Big-Shots

admin — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 02:38:29 +0000

“I have always been alive to the fact that I am not one of the really big shots,” says Wodehouse. “Like Jeeves, I know my place, and that place is down at the far end of the table among the scurvy knaves and scullions.”

P.G. Wodehouse by R.B. French , p.66 (a citation from the autobiographical Over Seventy by P.G. Wodehouse)

I’m Busy Not Blogging

admin — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:20:42 +0000

OK, so it’s been a while since I posted anything. 14 days since my last post, which was he only . And only 9 posts in the New Year. I’m not the biggest slacker in the blogosphere, but for me it certainly is a slower pace than was usual not too long ago. No quite daily expositions. Looking at the list of blogs that I link to, there are only a few blogs that have been more sluggish in February.

Life is busy! But I will try to blog a bit more regularly. Otherwise I might be tared and feathered by my 3 readers. But of course I don’t want to speak if I have nothing to say. As Plato once said “Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.” I hope my blogging is weighted more in the direction of “having something to say” rather than “having to say something”. And if that means posting less frequently, so be it!

Looking back at recent posts, it seems most of what I’m doing with this blog is either quoting from books I’m reading or listing books I’ve read and commenting on them. But some of it can be so random that its questionable as to who would finding it interesting as a whole.

Booklog (Jan. 10th – Feb. 3rd)

admin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:50:20 +0000

An Essay on Criticism by Alexander Pope: Not bad, but *yawn*
The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd by Richard Zachs: Fascinating, but maybe stretching it a bit?
Psmith, Journalist by P.G. Wodehouse: Wodehouse takes on New York. Good–though not among Wodehouse’s best. I prefer “Psmith in the City”.
Much Obliged, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse: Excellent.
God Is: How Christianity Explains Everything by Douglas Wilson: Fantabulous.
I, Pencil by Leonard Read: Makes you go hmmm

The Difference Between Ukridge and Psmith

admin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 10:47:40 +0000

Those familiar with more than a few Wodehouse stories will find the following assessment of Ukridge and Psmith fascinating.

“Loosed upon society, Ukridge attacks life like a juvenile delinquent with a hammer who has broken into the Queen’s Dolls’ House. Psmith, indulgent if patronising, regards the world as created for his amusement, and patiently adjusts it where it falls short of his standards.”

R.B.D. French in P.G. Wodehouse (1968), p.37